The present invention relates to an emergency release mechanism for an automatic transmission.
The following discussion of related art is provided to assist the reader in understanding the advantages of the invention, and is not to be construed as an admission that this related art is prior art to this invention.
Automatic transmissions for motor vehicles have a shifting device to select various manually preselectable operating positions, also called driving positions. The term “driving position” relates to all positions of an automatic transmission, including parking position and neutral position. The shifting device includes an operating position selector which can be moved into several positions, each of which being assigned to an operating position. Once selected by the driver, a driving or operating position is engaged by electro-hydraulic setting elements that are operated by a transmission control device.
Shift into the parking position in an automatic transmission blocks the transmission so that the vehicle cannot be towed when the shifting device becomes defective for example. For that reason, automatic transmissions are equipped with an emergency release which normally involves a manually actuatable tackle, e.g. a Bowden cable, to be able to move a shift lever and thereby disengage the parking position by hand in the event of an emergency.
It would be desirable and advantageous to provide an improved emergency release mechanism which obviates prior art shortcomings and which is simple in structure and thus cost-efficient while yet being reliable in operation and easy to install.